Needle-guard.



H. DUKELSKY,. W. STEIN & S. SCHO ENBERG.

NEEDLE GUARD.

APPUCATION FILED AP R.24" I915.

Patent-ed Apr. 4, 1916.

mm, mu e wmfi 80 y Z 5 71 Hwy W Z 33%; their 6am HARRY DUKELSKY, WILLIAMSTEEN, AHD SAMUEL SGHOENBERG, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOBS TO THEYiiNKE-E NEEDLE GUARD 60., INQL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A COEEORATION' 0FNEEE'ELE-GUARJJ.

mom-11:1

application filed April $34, 1915.

To all whom 2'25 may concern.

Be it known that W HARRY DUKELSKY, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, in the countyand State of How York, W inminr STEIN, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city of New York; borough of Brooklyn, in the county ofKings and State of New York, and SAMUEL Sononxnnno, a subject of theCzar of Bussia, esiding in the city of New York, borough of Brooklyn, inthe county of Kings and State of New York, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Needle-Guards, of which the following is aspecification.

Our invention relates to needle guards,.to

be used upon sewing machines other devices using a needle, a small punchor the like, in order to prevent accidental injuries to the fingers ofthe operator while engaged in handling the cloth orother materialoperated upon, as the same is fed by hand through the machine.

As used upon sewing'rnachines,'our invention may be used uponpractically all kinds, whether driven by treadle or by power, andWhether the material operated upon be cloth, bagging, carpeting, shoesor stock of any other kind.

More particularly stated, our invention comprehends a guard to bedetachably mounted upon the presser bar of the machine, or upon someequivalent part, in close proximity to the needle, and provided. with ashield of suitable form for normally preventing the admission of theoperators gers into the path of travel of the needle, while at the sametime enabling the operator to see clearly the portion of the work beingoperated upon by the needle.

Our invention further contemplates means for enablin the operator toquickly swing the shield to one side, by a movement some what resemblingthat of a swinging gate, in

order to promote access to the needle in order to thread the same, or toremove and replace the needle.

Reference is made to the accompanying drawing forming apart of thisspecification, and in which like letters indicate like parts in all ofthe figures.

Figure l'is a fragmentary perspective of a sewing machine equipped withour improved needle guard. Fig. 2 is a plan view of our device, showingin full lines the guard ?atented Apr.4,1916.

Serial 1%. asses.

as it appears when in its normal condition 'or ready for work, andindicating in dotted lines how the guard is occasionally swung to oneside, in orderto promote free access to the needle. Fig. 3 is a frontelevation of the needle guard, showing the shield as occupying itsnormal position, in order to protect. the operato-rs fin ers. Fig. 4.-isa side elevation of the needle guard. Fig. 5 is an enlarged section onthe line 5-5 of Fig. 3, loo-king in the direction of the arrows. Fig. 6is a front elevation of the guard, showing the shield as swung into itsabnormal position in order to facilitate access to the needle and partsadjacent thereto.

The sewing machine head appears at 7 the litter arm at 8, and the pivotbolt for the litter arm at 9. The needle bar is shown at 10, the needleat 11, the thread at 12, and

- the thread guide at 13. The bed plate appears at 14, and the throatplate at 15. The presser bar 16 carries the Presser foot 17 and is undercontrol of the lifter arm 8 to the extent that the presser bar andpresser foot may be raised and lowered by movements of the lifter arm 8.The presser bar and presser foot are adapted for vertical reciprocatingmovement well understood in this art. it screw 17 is used for holdingthe presser toot detachably and adjustably upon the presser bar. Theparts thus far described may be of the usual orv any preferredconstruction.

We make use of the screw 17 in order to detachably mount our needleguard upon the machine, as may be understood from Fig. l.

We supply a supporting plate 18, which in this instance is made from asingle piece of sheet metal, of double thickness, as indicated in Fig.5. The supporting plate 18- is provided with a pairof looped portions20,

21', each having a general form approximatlar form.

Revoluhly mounted in the bearing 22 is a stem 23, and the upper part 24'of this stem is bent to a right angle relatively to the axis of thebearing 22. A. number of small rods between the tubular aws 19, 20.

g ammo? 25, 26, 27 are supported by the horizontal portion 24 of thestem, the rods 25, 26 being connected together by shorter rods 28, 2-9.All of the rods 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 are in this instance soldered orwelded together, and collectively they constitute a shield ofreticula'te form. The portion 2% has in this instance the form of tworods twisted together, as may be understood from Fig. 5, and thisportion is adapted to be forced in In practice the jaws snap as theportion 24 of the stem is forced in between them. lvhile the relativemovement of-the j axis is hardly perceptible to the eye, it suflicientto bring the jaws slightly nearer to each other whenever the portion 24is pressed in between them to a sufiicient distance-that is, when theportion 2% passes the adjacent centers of contact of the jaws. With thejaws thus gripped, the shield is helc-firmly and without any lostmotion. By a slight pressure of the operators finger, the portion 2% maybe disconnected from the jaws 19, 20, and thus disconnected the shieldmay be swung around, as indicated by the curved arrow in Fig. :2, andwhen the limit of travel is thus reached, the parts appear as indicatedin Fig. 6. The operators finger appears at 30.

The operation or" our device is as follows: 'l lhe parts being assembledand arranged as adoye described and as shown in Fig. 1, the

stock to be operated upon, which as above explained may be cloth orother material, is fed by hand beneath the presser foot 17%,

The operator need not beafraid that the needle will be thrust into hisfingers. If he places one of his fingers near the needle. as shown at30, the linger merely lodges agaihst some one ormore of the rodscomprising the shield. The operator being'thus relieved of the fear ofinjury to his fingers, can givehis entire attention to his work, and indoing this'he saves time.

lVhen the needle is to be threaded, or is to he removed, or replaced, orwhen the operator wishes to make a close inspection of the condition ofthe work or of the presser foot, the shield is grasped by hand. andturned, as indicated in 2 audit, a little pressure being used at thestart in order to disengage the jaws 19, 20. When the operator is readyto proceed with the work, the shield is restored to its positionindicated in Fig. 1.

It will thus be observed that our invention serves two general purposes,one being humane and the other economical. A wound inflicted upon thefinger by the thrust of a needle is not only painful but dangerous, and'aqnachine operator is liable to Waste time in watching his or herfingers in order to keep. them out of the path of travel of the needle.By the use of our device these hardships are avoided.

Our invention may be applied to new machines during the manufacturethereof, or may be used as an attachment for machines already in use. Inthe particular instance here shown the device is used as an attachmentfor an ordinary sewing machine as used in thefactory and householdf,

The needle guard, when completed, consists practically of only twopieces. It can be manufactured cheaply, and applied to the machine byany person of average intelli gence. Its use requires no particularskill or special knowledge.

We do not limit ourselvesto the exact construction here shownanddescribed, as vari ations may be made in the form/of the invention.Neither do we limit the device to use upon sewing machines alone, nor towork upon any particular material, the scope of the invention beingcommensurate with our claim.

We claim As an article of manufacture a supporting plate provided with apair of jaws of sheet metal each having a substantially tubular form anddisposed parallel with each other, said jaws being slightly resilient,and

a shield journaled upon said supporting plate and provided witha portionto be forced in between said jaws in order to normally hold said shieldfirmly in a predeter mined position relatively to said supporting plateand to permit the swinging of said shield into an abnormal positionrelatively to said supporting plate. r

-lln testimony whereof, we hereby sign our names.

HARRY DUKELSKY. WILLIAM STEIN.

SAMUEL SCHOENBERG.

